1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to emergency parachutes and, more specifically, relates to an emergency parachute to be used in an emergency, for example, when a person escapes from an upper floor of a building.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Usually, a parachute is provided with an umbrellalike body, a falling body holding part a plurality of suspension bodies coupling the umbrellalike body and the falling body holding part, and an umbrellalike body opening device operable so that the umbrellalike body can be opened. The parachute is used for allowing a person or goods to float safely down from an aircraft in the sky.
On the other hand, a person working on an upper floor of a building must escape in an emergency from the upper floor of the building due to an earthquake, a fire or an unexpected accident. In the case that an emergency staircase can not be used, the person might escape from a window. If the person jumps down directly from the window, it might cause death and is quite dangerous. Therefore it has been desired, for example, for a person to float down using a parachute having a simple structure to be opened in a moment.
Moreover, since a parachute in the prior art is constituted for use in the high altitude, time is required to open such an umbrellalike body. Such time is considered to be longer than in a moment. Therefore when a person is allowed to float down from an upper floor of a building at low altitude using the parachute in the prior art, the person may collide with the ground due to the delay of the opening of the umbrellalike body. Therefore it is quite dangerous. Moreover since a space between buildings is narrow, the umbrellalike body may interfere with an obstacle or the like and therefore it does not descend to the ground.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an emergency parachute which can allow a person to escape at low altitude, for example, from an upper floor of a building.
An emergency parachute of the present invention comprises an umbrellalike body formed as a bag having an outer cloth and an inner cloth and capable of being filled with a gas in the inside so as to be opened or closed, gas producing means for producing the gas for filling the umbrellalike body, and suspension means having one end coupled with plural portions of a peripheral part of the umbrellalike body and other end having a falling body holding part.
The gas producing means has a gas producing agent, an ignition device for igniting the gas producing agent, and the ignition device for igniting the gas producing agent. The ignition device receives a signal from working means for supplying an ignition signal to the ignition device so it can be ignited by the ignition of the igniting device. The gas producing agent produces a gas which is filled within the umbrellalike body for opening the umbrellalike body.
Thereby in an emergency parachute of the present invention, an umbrellalike body is formed as a bag having gas producing means capable producing a gas, and the gas fills the umbrellalike body thereby the umbrellalike body can be opened. For example, when a person escapes from an upper floor of a building, if the working means is operated simultaneously with the person""s falling, the ignition device of the gas producing means is ignited and the gas produced from the gas producing means fills the umbrellalike body in a moment. That is, since a structure body of an air bag is used to open the umbrellalike body, which can be opened in a moment and a person can fall on the ground safely.
Preferably since the outer cloth and the inner cloth are coupled by a plurality of coupling cords to connect both, the umbrellalike body with the gas filled therein falls in a state such that the inner cloth extends and generates the same curved surface as that of the outer cloth, thereby a stable failing state can be produced.
Also when the umbrellalike body is formed in a rectangular shape, the gas producing agent of the gas producing means jets the gas toward four apex parts of the umbrellalike body so it can be opened rapidly and stably.
Further when the umbrellalike body is formed in a circular shape, the gas producing agent of the gas producing means jets the gas toward at least the three directions equally divided of the outer circumferential part of umbrellalike body with good balance, and the umbrellalike body can be opened rapidly and stably.